Preview

Mulan Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
859 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mulan Essay Example
Mulan
“There is room enough for everyone” “You will never bring your family honor!” Mulan receives this comment from the matchmaker when she goes into town. Not a lot of people have faith in Mulan. She is different from all of the other woman in her country. She just likes to have fun and not care what anyone says about her. She is not your typical girly-girl, she likes to get down and dirty when she needs to be. None of the women or men agrees with this and it becomes a bigger problem than expected. Although Mulan is only a young adult her authorities, such as her family, the society, and herself, find a way to challenge her. Some are easier to tell than others. For instance, her family wants her to be the best she can be, the society does not want to be ashamed of her and by her actions, also she has challenged herself by always slacking off, not caring, and not forcing herself to become a better person. In the movie, “Mulan,” the question of gender roles is very prominent throughout the whole movie.
Women are always looked down upon. There have always been rules such as only a man can do this or only a woman can do that. Mulan is a young adult who has just started to grasp these little concepts. She has been misunderstood and mistreated by her family and her village. They do not agree with everything that Mulan does and it irritates them as well as Mulan. They do not think it’s right that she does not want to do what the only girls are doing. As soon as Mulan joins the army you notice she becomes more mature compared to how she acted at home. Also, she is more confident in herself and she knows now that she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to. Towards the end of the movie Mulan shows her country that a girl is able to do anything a guy can do. A girl can be just as strong as a guy. Also, a girl can accomplish just as much as a guy can and even more sometimes. Lastly, Mulan figures out right from wrong. She did the wrong thing by joining the army,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Another technique showing gender is costume. The women in Murra’s wear traditionally feminine clothing. For example mother Ruby comes home with a bag of dresses for her sixteen year old daughter Jayda to wear, as this is typical female attire. The expectations of the female gender are maintained through costume because what the women wear is stereotypical. Gender at the time was a significant issue, particularly within Aboriginal…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In many movies that Disney has recently come out with, as well as previous movies, have examples of this gender role. Movies like Tangled, Princess and the Frog, and Mulan. Giroux states “The construction of gender identity for girls and women represents one of the most controversial issues in Disney’s animated films.” (pg 98) What Giroux means is that we, parents, should not be showing little girl children that you should be underneath a man and not being independent. This is a big issue in the world of Disney because in almost every movie you see from the start, women are portrayed as less than men or some say weaker. For an example in the 1989 movie The Little Mermaid Ariel, the mermaid, appears to be struggling for independence with her parents to go out on her own and explore the human world. When she meets handsome prince Eric from up above she instantly falls in love and her main reason changed from being independent to falling in love. To young girls, they see that along with choice and dreams is tied with finding true love with a handsome man. When watching movies like this you tend to not notice these hidden controversies and by taking a second look you realize how negative these films can be towards young girls and their…

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play Twelve Angry Men written by Reginald Rose describes a dissenter forced the jury to reconsider a homicide case and eventually they get a unanimous verdict that the boy is innocent. The play celebrates the legal system in America but to some extent it also demonstrates there are some weakness exits. The legal system is just since the twelve jurors have to reach a unanimous verdict. However, the jurors may view the case with prejudice and therefore send an innocent person to the chair. The play supports the view that the legal system is fair, but not perfectly just.…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Louise Edwards

    • 1304 Words
    • 6 Pages

    One of the similarities is the early emphasis on the story of Mulan. Both Wei and Edwards essentially begin their work by paying homage to the story of Mulan by outlining her story as a soldier who achieved equality on the battlefield. Edward’s interpretation of Mulan guides the reader’s ability to understand the how women like Wei saw Mulan and it also displayed that the narratives of Mulan change over time. Edwards claims “that Mulan’s story is not merely an empty vessel into which diverse ideological or commercial interest are poured. At its core, it has allowed writers, critics, and audiences to wrestle with key features of the Chinese moral and social universe … despite remarkable and extensive elaborations in plot, characterization and context, these militarisation processes remain central to the narrative tension of the Mulan story” (18). This analysis of Mulan made by Edwards takes shape within Wei’s admiration for the story of Mulan and allows the reader to gain a firsthand look at how women identified with these legendary stories. This admiration guides women like Wei and allowed her to apply the lesson preached in these stories into their own lives. Wei opens her autobiography by writing “[w]hen I was about seven I sat on my mother’s lap round-eyed and still, and listened to…

    • 1304 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Over the past few centuries, Chinese people have been entirely influenced by the ideal of Confucianism especially Filial Piety. According to the Analects of Confucianism, the term Filial Piety is defined as a range of values that solely emphasizes filial (Children natural respect) towards their parents and particular duty towards their elders. (1:2, Analect of Confucianism). Basically, Filial Piety is so deeply rooted in Chinese traditional culture. It has also become the fixed fundamental value for every Chinese community that cannot be reconstructed by any means. In the original version, filial piety is repeatedly shown in Mulan’s conduct. First of all, Mulan never defies any of her parents’ commands. The ballad, as has been retold by Disney, justifies, that Mulan does not have the courage to turn down the matchmaking decision that her parents has arranged for her. As an obedient and dutiful daughter, she readily agreed without even once asking the purpose of her parents’ decision. The last segment of the ballad even states that Mulan is eventually married the highly-selected man whom her parents have chosen for her and stays obedience until the rest of her life. In this…

    • 1841 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the beginning of the Walt Disney Picture, Mulan (1998), it shows women in Mulan’s village helping her get ready to meet the “matchmaker”. The matchmaker arranges marriages for both women and men. Throughout the song the women in the village explain different qualities that Mulan should possess in order to impress the men and the matchmaker. Repeatedly the women state by portraying all these characteristics and pleasing the matchmaker she will “Bring honor to us all”. In China, during the Han Dynasty, it was a cultural norm at Mulan’s age to marry and bear children. While the men were at war the women would take care of the children, which were always preferred to be male. The only way for women of Mulan’s age to bring honor to her family…

    • 139 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A Thousand Splendid Suns

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Throughout the entire novel, both Mariam and Laila endure a lot of obstacles and heartache purely because of their gender. Yet they continue to persevere and overcome their challenges. It is their strength and power within themselves which allows “justice and power” to be “brought together”, as the women of that nation would not have been allowed to voice their opinions, let along hold any power over authority, as the text describes the main antagonist being constricted by their husband. The dialogue “A man’s heart is a wretched, wretched thing. It isn’t like a mother’s womb. It won’t bleed. It won’t stretch to make room for you” conveys fear, and powerlessness. The persona does not feel any power, but feels isolation instead. This demonstrates women’s place in many nations in the poorer parts of the world. However, later the text states that “Laila has moved on”. This quote highlights the persona empowering herself. She has moved on from her abusive husband and now “whatever…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, men are described to be so powerful and mighty that they, “called to each other in the bowels of the Earth” (Cooper 74). Here, the Earth is a God-given creation. To compare the men to the movements of the Earth is to make them God-like creatures. By comparing the men to God and his creations, men are raised, in society, far above women. Another manly aspect is that the setting of the book is distinctly war based. In addition to the book as a whole lacking women, if it wasn’t for Magua’s plan, there would’ve been no women in the war zone at all. In Nina Baym’s essay,"Putting Women in Their Place: The Last of the Mohicans and Other Indian Stories" she writes that men are “overcome by blood lust, and desperate for scalps to demonstrate their manhood” (Baym “Putting Women in Their Place: The Last of the Mohicans and Other Indian Stories”). She describes that men exhibit their power through cruel and violent actions. As far as the book and the gender roles created inside of it are concerned,…

    • 2026 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Mulan there was four different sociological concepts that happened. There is the gender roles, death, family, and socialization/ social interaction. In the movie can see all of these clearly. Mulan breaks the gender roles because her focus should be to find a husband but instead she is fighting in the war for her father. She breaks what there gender roles are.…

    • 233 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    However, in time of distress, Mulan does not rely on her strength to overcome the obstacles presented. Instead of listening to the advice of the men, she utilizes her own instincts to stop the Han army from killing the few men left in her regiment. Once again, Mulan overthrows the stereotype of women being fit only for domestic work by using her cleverness to device a strategy within seconds. She may not have the same capability of being as physically strong as the rest of the men, but it is this physical impediment that encourages her to use other resources to help her reach greatness and success in time of emergency. Because of Mulan’s quickness, the men hold an immense amount of admiration and gratification towards her until they find out she is a woman. Due to the men’s loss of appreciation and trust they had towards Mulan before they discovered she was a woman, the film addresses gender roles furthermore. Simply because of gender, Mulan losses her spot as the hero of the day, and becomes a “treacherous snake” regardless of the achievements she reached. Even when she is accused of treason and looked down upon, Mulan continues her journey in attempt to save her town rather than giving in to defeat. She not only empowers herself, but she also demonstrates how women can rise even when they…

    • 1649 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ethical Message of Mulan

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Strength in women is an important lesson for the young viewers of Walt Disney’s Mulan. One of the first scenarios that demonstrate this lesson very dominantly is the scene at the training camp where the soldiers were asked to climb a large, wooden post to retrieve an arrow stuck on the top. For weeks, no one could do it, but with full determination to remain at camp, Mulan awoke at dawn and proved herself worthy to be in the army and ultimately proving woman worthy of keeping up with men, or even exceeding above them. The next scene that supports this moral lesson is where the troop is battling the Huns in the snow and at the last second, Mulan save her troop by firing a missile not at the Hun, but at a snow filled mountain to create an avalanche. This proves that unlike men, who just fight with force and aggression against evil, women battle with force and utilize their intelligence, in addition, to succeed. Mulan saves the army from the Huns and is told that she is “the man” as opposed to being “the woman,” which could be seen as bad. But when they find that she is a woman, they disregard what she has done and now look down upon her. Shang, the…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mulan the Movie

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Society has an idea that women are supposed to be weak and quiet and men are supposed to be loud and strong, but in this movie it is Mulan who is strong and smart and stands out to save her country. This movie undoes the normal stereotype of women being inferior to men, because it is the female that saves the day. The message the filmmakers convey, and the main point and message of the story, is one of equality and feminine empowerment. It is saying that women are stronger and smarter than men, and that they are the ones that will save the day in the end, even if society says they’re useless like the matchmaker said to Mulan. Because this story is so classic and old, for years…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Ballad Of Mulan Essay

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “It all depends on what she cooks like… beef, pork, chicken… mmmm,” (Cook) says one of the men. His focus on domestic skills portrays the place of a women. Another man says, “I want her paler than the moon, with eyes that shine like stars,” (Cook). Showing a woman's intelligence is not important, only outside beauty. Mulan interrupts adding “how bout a girl who’s got a brain, who always speaks her mind,” (Cook). All the men answer with a no. This again is plainly stated stereotypical gender roles. Women must cook, clean and take care of the children while the man works. A woman’s job is to support and admire her husband, not have strength on her…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is the central conflict of the story? What is the source of the struggle?…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Females in China at the time were just expected to be good wives and daughters. At the beginning of the movie Mulan is expected to bring honor to their family by finding a good husband and presenting herself admirably to the matchmaker. Mulan defies everyone by joining the army so her crippled father didn’t have to, and that took great courage as she could be killed if they discovered that she was a woman. She made that decision and when…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays